Self-adjusting separable fastener



July 3, 1934. P. E. FENTON 1,965,115

SELF ADJUSTING SEPARABLE FASTENER Filed Feb. 3, 1933 wuc/wtO r/ 3 J5 3 tromw zzz Patented July 3, 193% UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SELF-ADJUSTING SEPARABLE FASTENER- Application February 3 5 Claims.

The object of this invention is to provide a separable fastener or snap fastener composed of a socket member and a stud member, the parts of either or both of which are made laterally shift- 5 able or floating so that any difference in arrangement of the two parts when set upon a garment or other object, will be compensated for by the self-adjustment or automatic movement of the shiitable or floating part.

0 Illustrating the invention by its application as the fastening means of an open-front garment, such as a sport coat, but without thereby limiting its use, it is noted that the socket member may be set upon the outer or overlying flap of the garment and the stud member may be set upon the inner or underlying flap. When these members are set it is always possible in the known practice of setting, especially by automatic setting mechanism, that the socket member and the stud member do not align, and the result is a bulging of the garment parts that is unsightly. In order to obviate such bulging it is necessary that the fastener parts shall accurately align. However attempts to correct such bulging are not satisfactory, but the lack of alignment may be avoided by providing in the socket member or the stud member or in both members, a shiftable or floating portion which will move laterally to seek and find the compiemental member or members and thereby take up any lack of accurate alignment and insure accurate engagement, without any bulging and in spite of inaccurate setting.

The invention consists of a self-adjusting separable fastener in which the engaging part of either the socket member or the stud member is capable of movement or adjustment to compensate for lack of alignment of the members; and the invention also comprises the use of a similar movable or self-adjusting feature in both members, as I will proceed now more fully to explain and finally claim.

In the accompanying drawing illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a hottom plan view, and Fig. 2 is a cross section of the part, shown as a capped self-piercing eyelet, for attaching the socket to an object. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view, and Fig. 4 is a cross section of the socket. Fig. 5 is a top plan view, and Fig. 6

i a cross section of the stud. Fig. 7 is a bottom plan view, and Fig. 8 is a cross section of the post, shown as self-piercing, for securing the stud to an object. Fig. 9 shows the socket and the stud in cross section mounted upon objects and arranged one above the other as in the act of en- 1933, Serial No. 655,103

gaging, the complemental shiftable engaging parts of the socket and the stud being out of axial alignment. Fig. 10 is an edge view of the overlapping parts of a garment showing one pair of fasteners aligned and engaged and another pair out of alignment and disengaged and still another pair in alignment but not engaged.

The capped eyelet 1 may be of any usual or approved construction, preferably made with a self-piercing edge 2, by the use of which it is not necessary to make a preformed hole for the insertion of said capped eyelet.

The socket is composed of an outside retaining shell or attaching portion 3 having an opening 4 g to receive the barrel of the eyelet which is clinched within the shell, as shown in Fig. 9. The shell has a grooved or shouldered bead or rim 5 with its free edge 6 underlying the aftermentioned stud-engaging member or engaging portion. As shown, the stud-engaging member or engaging portion comprises a crimped portion '7 with the inturned portion or lip 8. This crimped portion has a central opening and its adjacent parts are slitted, as at 9 to render it resilient, so that as a stud enters the crimped portion said crimped portion will yield and snap into engagement with the customary neck of the stud. Surrounding the crimped portion is a laterally extending flange l0 and this flange is of less diameter than the grooved V or shouldered bead or rim 5, and movably rests upon the free edge 6 and is supported thereby in such manner that the stud-engaging member is free to move or shift or float laterally within the shell.

The stud comprises a stud-retaining base or attaching portion 11 having its rim 12 turned upwarly and rolled in, and said base is also provided with an uprising tubular portion having a bulged and indented anvil portion 13 to receive and clinch the self-piercing post 14 by which the stud is set. The stud includes also an outside shell 15 having a head portion 16 and a contracted neck portion 17, and a laterally extending flange 18 which is of less diameter than the inside diameter of the rim 12, so that the outside shell 15 is capable of lateral movement or shifting or floating within the groove provided by the rolled rim 12 in order to register with the stud-engaging member of the socket.

As indicated in Fig. 9 the eyelet 1 is inserted into the shell 3 from one side of the supporting member or object represented at 19 and clinched within the shell in order to attach the socket member to the object, the socket member being arranged on the opposite side of the object 19.

Also, in the same view, the stud member is shown as attached to the supporting member or object 20 by locating it on one side thereof and passing the post 14 from the other side of the object 20 and upsetting or clinching its barrel within the anvil 13. Also in this view the socket member and the stud are shown as out of axial alignment, as indicated by the axial lines A and B but due to the fact that both complemental members are shown as having the capacity of self adjustment, shifting or floating, the lack of alignment would be automatically corrected upon engagement of the parts. The same idea is illustrated in Fig. 10 where the axial line C of the socket and the axial line D of the stud while parallel are out of alignment and this lack of alignment is corrected as previously described, thus avoiding any bulging of the parts when they are fastened.

It is not necessary that both the socket memher and the stud member should have the self-adjusting feature separately, inasmuch as if one member has the self-adjusting feature it will be sufiicient. The benefit of having both members provided with this self-adjusting feature is found in the fact that the capacity for accurate alignment is doubled.

The invention is not limited to the use of the particularly shown and described crimped socket member or to the particularly shown and described stud member. The stud-engaging element of the socket member may be varied so long as said member is self-adiusting with respect to its supporting shell; and it is also true that the stud member shown may be otherwise cons truct-- ed, excepting that when it has the shiftable shell, said shell must be supported to provide for lateral self-adjustment. Furthermore, the socket member may be rigid and the stud resilient.

By the term attaching portion as herein used, I mean to include any structure by which the fastener element may be attached to a supporting member, and by the term engaging portion I means to include any means which will serve to engage or connect with a complemental fastener element.

What I claim is:-

1. A separable fastener couple, the members of which are provided with complemental engaging elements, comprising separable snap fastener stud and socket members having flange portions, attaching parts oversized relatively to the flange portions, said flange portions being shiftably mounted on said attaching parts and thereby adapted automatically to bring said elements into engaging alignment.

2. In a separable snap fastener, two complemental fastener elements having flange portions and attaching means oversized relatively to said flange portions, the flange portions on each of said elements arranged in its respective attaching means for lateral shifting movement, whereby engagement of the two elements may be facilitated.

3. A four-piece snap fastener, comprising first, a socket member in which is an attaching portion terminating at one end in a grooved rim, and an undersized stud-engaging portion of such dimensions as to be shiftably mounted within said groove, second, means to engage the attaching portion to secure the socket member in workable position, third, a stud member comprising an attaching portion provided with an oversized groove-like rim and a socket-engaging portion overlying the attaching portion and provided with a laterally extending flange of less diameter than the interior diameter of the groove-like rim and of such thickness as to be shiftably confined within said groove-like rim, and fourth, a post engaging the attaching portion to secure the stud in workable position.

4. A four-piece snap fastener, comprising first, a socket member provided at opposite ends with an attaching portion and an oversized grooved rim and a stud-engaging portion of such dimensions as to be shiftably mounted within said groove, second, means to engage the attaching portion to secure the socket member in workable position third, a stud me nber comprising an attaching portion provided with an oversized groove-like rim and a socket-engaging portion overlying the attaching portion and having an undersized part shiftably confined within said groove-like rim, and fourth, a post engaging the attaching portion to secure the stud in workable position, and oppositely arranged supporting members on which the socket member and the stud member are respectively set.

5. A snap fastener, comprising a socket memher having an outside shell provided with an opening at its top and an oversized grooved rim at its bottom, a self-piercing eyelet passed into said opening and clinched on its inside, and a stud-engaging portion having an undersized element by which it is supported in the groove of the outside shell and laterally shiftable therein, and a stud member comprising a shell having a socket-engaging head portion terminating at one end in a laterally extending flange, and a base having a rim turned upwardly and forming an oversized groove to loosely receive said flange, the base and its rim underlying and overlying the laterally extending flange of the socket-engaging head portion, and a tubular portion extending upwardly within the shell, and a self-piercing post clinched within the tubular portion.

PAUL E. FEN TON. 

